Canceled Star Wars Games and Why

VO: Riccardo Tucci
WRITTEN BY: Owen Maxwell
There have been a lot of Star Wars games over the years, and a lot of canceled ones that had great potential. Here are the games that we think had the best potential, and why they were given the axe.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away … there were a series of games that sadly never made it to the store shelves … a lot of them too. Welcome to MojoPlays! And today, we're looking at some Cancelled Stars Games.

We’re going to be taking a look at a few Games in the Star Wars universe that we would have loved to play. Believe it or not, this isn’t the full list of cancelled titles. Kinda makes you wonder what kind of titles we never even announced that may have been ready to strike gold.

"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed III"

'The Force Unleashed' series gave us strong action gameplay, while letting players decide between the Jedi and the Sith. After two solid entries in the franchise, LucasArts had actually started pursuing a third title. The team behind the game described it as a team-up between Starkiller and Darth Vader, which featured a co-op mode as well. This was also proposed as the finale to Starkiller's story arc and would've taken a more open-world approach to the series. Actors and developers had begun planning the game, but it faced delays due to 'The Force Awakens.' With Disney's shut down of LucasArts in 2013, 'The Force Unleashed III' was scrapped along with our hopes for a satisfying end to Starkiller.

"Star Wars: Ewok Adventure"

Despite a lot of bad blood towards the Ewoks, Parker Brothers toyed around with an entire Ewok video game. Larry Gelberg had designed the game for the Atari 2600, and had players fighting Stormtroopers. Later levels would also have you hijacking speeder bikes and AT-STs. 'Ewok Adventure' was mostly based around glider combat however, which is baffling considering their short appearance in 'Return of the Jedi.' The game would feature no music and was allegedly difficult to play. It was apparently this poor control scheme that caused Parker Brothers to ultimately end the development as a whole. The prototype has appeared online however, with all its faults on display forever.

"Star Wars: Imperial Commando"

“Star Wars: Republic Commando' was a game let you play as a group of clone commando’s during the Clone Wars, but this sequel would have seen what would happen to them, once the Republic became the Empire. 'Imperial Commando' was set to follow a group of Imperial Stormtrooper commandos, with the same classic FPS gameplay. Concept art and a loose story were actually created before 'Republic Commando' was even released. In the end it was allegedly the disappointing sales figures of the first game that forced 'Imperial Commando' to halt its development. Nevertheless, the rumors and additional info from LucasArts books has had fans discussing a sequel to this day.

"Star Wars: Episode VII: Shadows Of The Sith"

Back in 2004, there was a concept floating around LucasArts to make a direct video game sequel to 'Return Of The Jedi.' The story was set to follow Luke's son Ben Skywalker, as he fought against an evil Jacen Solo. LucasArts creative director Haden Blackman also stated that 'Shadows of the Sith' would allow players to use brand new force powers. The game also attempted the ambitious challenge of merging stories from the Expanded Universe with the movies. Though 'Shadows of the Sith' struggled to get off the ground, ideas from the project were reportedly used in 'The Force Unleashed.' Considering how many elements of the plot were also mirrored in 'The Force Awakens,' LucasArts was clearly onto something with 'Shadows of the Sith.'

After their strong 'Rogue Squadron' series, developer Factor 5 worked on a 'Dark Squadron' entry based around Empire pilots. Sadly this alternate perspective was passed over in favor of an untitled Chewbacca bounty hunter game. This Chewie game was then allegedly rejected by George Lucas himself, which killed the idea for good. Factor 5 worked on a 'Rogue Squadron' compilation for the Wii years later, which looked to add a co-op story mode to all 3 games in trilogy. This compilation would also include a new speeder bake race mode, Wii MotionPlus lightsaber duels and even Wii Balance Board controls. Despite Factor 5's history with 'Star Wars,' the game was reportedly shelved due to legal issues.

Visceral's Star Wars – Code Name Ragtag

In 2013, Visceral Games teamed up with Amy Hennig from the 'Uncharted' series to make a narrative-focused 'Star Wars' title. Ragtag’s story was set to be an 'Oceans 11'-style heist with 'Uncharted'-like action. The gameplay allowed you to control multiple smugglers in missions with firefights and stealth options. Space fights were reported to allow hijacking between ships and the game would also take place in the aftermath of Alderaan's destruction. Despite a strong team Visceral was shut down by EA in 2017, reportedly because the game “too linear” and “wasn’t as monetizable as Fifa”. The game was then handed over to EA Vancouver, where it would have a replayale focus, hopefully they would have better luck right?

EA Vancouver’s Star Wars - Code Name Orca

Well … shit! Though EA Vancouver had cannibalized Codename Ragtag for this game, they reportedly started from scratch, and used nothing but a few visuals and concepts. Players would still take control of a scoundrel or bounty hunter, but the set-pieces had changed to open-world planets. EA had a large scope for this game too, but the proposed development time caused executives to worry with next gen consoles on the horizon. Thus 'Code Name Orca' was officially cancelled as of 2019 in favor of a smaller 'Star Wars' game in time for 2020.

"Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 3"

With the healthy fandom around both 'Knights of the Old Republic' games, a third release had been set in motion. 'Old Republic II' content designer John Stafford was already attached to the project too. The team had reportedly written story elements, quests, characters and designed whole worlds to explore. Some art for the game was later released in the 'Rogue Leaders' book about LucasArts, which included a character named Naresha. Production was halted ahead of development due to rough times at LucasArts, and EA has allegedly turned down multiple pitches from Bioware to get it going again for reasons unspecified. While we still got 'The Old Republic' MMO, there hasn't been any rumors towards a proper sequel.

"Star Wars: 1313"

While many 'Star Wars' games have been relatively family-friendly, '1313' wanted to tell a more mature story. Gamplay would've followed a young Boba Fett through Level 1313, an underground city on the planet Coruscant. Though it was supposed to feature an M rating, this was allegedly to be for narrative purposes rather than outright violence. Fighting was also supposedly set around weapons and manual abilities rather than Jedi powers. After its well-received E3 trailer however, Disney bought LucasArts and essentially froze the game. Current Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy suggested in 2015 that '1313' could still return in some form, but there haven't been any actual announcements since then to get our hopes up.

"Star Wars: Battlefront 3"

For the sequel to 2005's 'Battlefront II,' Free Radical Design wanted to allow players to swap between soldier and vehicle combat seamlessly. The game would presumably give fans more of the trooper-based gunplay, though little else was revealed about 'Battlefront 3.' Free Radical's Steve Ellis claimed the game was mostly finished but then marketing costs ended the production. This prompted a lot of statements from LucasArts workers that Free Radical had missed deadlines and outright lied about the status of the game. Footage eventually leaked online, and there was briefly a playable download of 'Battlefront 3' on Reddit. As cool as it would've been to play, 'Battlefront 3' just faced too much internal turmoil to keep the franchise going. And we all know what happened with the Battlefront franchise next.